Hong Kong stocks end higher as Sino-US trade war fears ease

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks ended higher on Tuesday, as fears of a full-blown trade war eased on reports that talks between Washington and Beijing will continue.

** The Hang Seng index ended 1.4 percent higher at 30,402.81, while the China Enterprises Index closed up 1.5 percent at 12,144.79 points.

** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares ended 0.1 percent higher, while the IT sector closed 2.64 percent higher, the financial sector ended 1.29 percent higher and property sector rose 1.34 percent.

** The top gainer on Hang Seng was Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, which ended 5.28 percent higher, while the biggest loser was CNOOC Ltd, closed down 1.78 percent.

** China's main Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.8 percent at 3,136.6448 points, while its blue-chip CSI300 index ended up 1.16 percent.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.42 percent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.18 percent.

** The yuan was quoted at 6.3646 per US dollar at 08:21 GMT, 0.06 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.3617.

** As of previous session, the Hang Seng index was up 0.25 percent this year, while China's H-share index was up 2.2 percent. As of previous close, the Hang Seng dropped 2.64 percent this month.

** The top gainers among H-shares were China Pacific Insurance Group Co Ltd up 5.64 percent, followed by China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd gaining 4.97 percent and New China Life Insurance Co Ltd up by 4.79 percent.

** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co Ltd, which lost 2.54 percent, CNOOC Ltd, which fell 1.8 percent and Shenzhou International Group Holdings Ltd that slipped 0.8 percent.

** About 1.67 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 101.8 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.64 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.49 billion.

** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 23.19 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 12.02 as of the last full trading day, while the dividend yield was 3.2 percent.